My good friend Xavier took some video from the team trials. This is my first round of F, camera work is a little shaky but its still a pretty decent video. He does a good job of hiding all my mistakes as well!
Friday, September 5, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Canadian Nationals and Team Selection
Well another year pretty much wrapped up for me. I just got back yesterday from Lindsay, Ontario where the Canadian Nationals and Team Selection competition were held.
Once again Dave Reaville did a stellar job of reporting this event as it was happening. So I am not going to go into any details on either the Nats or Team selection. His daily updates can be found here in case you have not already been there :)
http://patternwest.blogspot.com/
A few things of note at the event though. A new young face appeared (at least to me) by the name of Ethen Chariandy in Sportsman, his dad Colin was flying in FAI. I had the opportunity to judge him in sportsman, I figure we have 10 years left before he comes along and starts beating us up in FAI :) It is a refreshing change to see some young talent starting up in pattern in this country.
Also a long time friend was back with us, Ivan Kristensen. Ivan had started out the year with a huge amount of bad luck and lost a couple of very nice airplanes which I am sure would put anyone into a holding pattern. However, while down at the US Nats he came across a Genesis which he has used to release those "crash monkeys" and get a bunch of flying under his belt. Although Ivan decided to pass on the team selection for this time, he has assured us he will be back in top shape for the next one in 2010. I am already looking forward to it!
The team selection....I have to say this was by far the most competitive and largest team selection that I have personally participated in. This was also the first year we used the format of P and F rounds to determine the team. I think this format has pushed the guys to a new level in their flying and really challenged them to do better.
Going into the finals rounds on Monday there were only 124 points separating 2nd from 7th place, and only 26 points between 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th places. This made the team spot anyones chance, the prelims were so close that the finals rounds became very important. At the end of the day and with only a 0.3 point margin between 3rd and 4th! the team was selected as myself, Dez Vaghy and Dan Venables.
I have to say I was most impressed with all the flying by the FAI guys. There has been a lot of improvement in the last year from what I saw. Although in competition not everyone gets go home happy with their final results, I think its more than safe to say that for everyone flying it was the best flying they have ever achieved.
The pilots of the finals with their airplanes.
Back: Chad Northeast, Dan Venables, Xavier Mouroux, Mark Byrne, Dave Reaville.
Front: Dez Vaghy, Colin Chariandy, Paul Hepworth
5 of the 8 contestants were flying Comp-Arf Integrals, 2 flying ZN Twisters, and 1 a Prestige. 6 pilots flew the Plettenberg 30-10 Evo, 1 pilot a YS 160DZ, and 1 pilot an Axi 5330 F3A.
My Composite-Arf Integral. This is the same model that I flew at the US Nats a month prior to this event.
Once again Dave Reaville did a stellar job of reporting this event as it was happening. So I am not going to go into any details on either the Nats or Team selection. His daily updates can be found here in case you have not already been there :)
http://patternwest.blogspot.com/
A few things of note at the event though. A new young face appeared (at least to me) by the name of Ethen Chariandy in Sportsman, his dad Colin was flying in FAI. I had the opportunity to judge him in sportsman, I figure we have 10 years left before he comes along and starts beating us up in FAI :) It is a refreshing change to see some young talent starting up in pattern in this country.
Also a long time friend was back with us, Ivan Kristensen. Ivan had started out the year with a huge amount of bad luck and lost a couple of very nice airplanes which I am sure would put anyone into a holding pattern. However, while down at the US Nats he came across a Genesis which he has used to release those "crash monkeys" and get a bunch of flying under his belt. Although Ivan decided to pass on the team selection for this time, he has assured us he will be back in top shape for the next one in 2010. I am already looking forward to it!
The team selection....I have to say this was by far the most competitive and largest team selection that I have personally participated in. This was also the first year we used the format of P and F rounds to determine the team. I think this format has pushed the guys to a new level in their flying and really challenged them to do better.
Going into the finals rounds on Monday there were only 124 points separating 2nd from 7th place, and only 26 points between 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th places. This made the team spot anyones chance, the prelims were so close that the finals rounds became very important. At the end of the day and with only a 0.3 point margin between 3rd and 4th! the team was selected as myself, Dez Vaghy and Dan Venables.
I have to say I was most impressed with all the flying by the FAI guys. There has been a lot of improvement in the last year from what I saw. Although in competition not everyone gets go home happy with their final results, I think its more than safe to say that for everyone flying it was the best flying they have ever achieved.
The pilots of the finals with their airplanes.
Back: Chad Northeast, Dan Venables, Xavier Mouroux, Mark Byrne, Dave Reaville.
Front: Dez Vaghy, Colin Chariandy, Paul Hepworth
5 of the 8 contestants were flying Comp-Arf Integrals, 2 flying ZN Twisters, and 1 a Prestige. 6 pilots flew the Plettenberg 30-10 Evo, 1 pilot a YS 160DZ, and 1 pilot an Axi 5330 F3A.
The 2009 Canadian F3A Team, Chad Northeast, Dez Vaghy and Dan Venables.
My Composite-Arf Integral. This is the same model that I flew at the US Nats a month prior to this event.
Ivan got this cool shot of my Integral departing the field on a fun flight after the contest while awaiting the results.
I have to give a big thanks to Ivan and Dianne Kristensen, as well as Harry and Rosemary Ells. Ivan and Dianne picked me up when I flew into Toronto and kept me sheltered and fed like a king (did you see that 40' motorhome!) during the contest. Harry and Rosemary put a roof over my head and transportation back to the airport on the last day. Without great people like this helping those who travel out it would not be nearly as fun or feasible to do!
For more pictures visit these sites,
http://picasaweb.google.com/Dave.Reaville/CanadianNationalsAndTeamTrials#
http://picasaweb.google.com/xavier.mouraux/2008LindsayContest#
http://albums.phanfare.com/5187035/2661331
Chad
For more pictures visit these sites,
http://picasaweb.google.com/Dave.Reaville/CanadianNationalsAndTeamTrials#
http://picasaweb.google.com/xavier.mouraux/2008LindsayContest#
http://albums.phanfare.com/5187035/2661331
Chad
Sunday, July 27, 2008
US Nationals 2008 - Thoughts
Well the 2008 US Nats are all over. I have not made it home, but am spending a week relaxing at my parents house. I quit my job before I left for the Nats and don't start the new one until the 5th of August so I decided to take a bit of time and spend it here.
This year the Nats was a big success for me, I accomplished many of the things that I set out to do this year, namely flying consistently, and making the finals. I have struggled in recent years with having consistently good flights, which was something I worked at this year. Although not all my flights were the best flights, they were all good flights. This is important at events like the US Nats where everything is very close.
There were a few new things at the Nats this year, being an off year most people are still flying gear from last season. Quique was flying his modified Euphoria which include a bunch of changes to the fin area and wing area. As well he has removed the quad servo setup from the wing and went with single 42 in-oz mini servos (don't remember the model) to drive both the lower and upper ailerons on each wing half. He said he cannot tell the difference between that and the quad servo setup, and it saved a huge amount of weight. He was also running the YS 170 on the CDI (capacitive discharge ignition) system, and I think a 19x11 prop (custom prop) at about 72-7400 rpm. This seemed to work well for him, his flying style was to fly in close with a slow but powerful style. I don't think this style would suit a monoplane very well, but the biplane presented nicely when flown like this. He unfortunately had a number of issues with what I think was the ignition system during the finals which cost him both his second F and unknown flights. He accepted his position at the Worlds as the current world champion so his 4th place finish did not affect him flying at the 2009 Worlds.
I was using a couple of new items as well, firstly being some new Thunder Power Prolite 2600 cells. These cells were used to make a 10s 2p 5200 mAh battery. These cells are 18C and the pack weighs approximately 1180 grams. I am not exactly sure when or if these will be available but they are very impressive cells, I was able to log some flight data on the cells, and during a normal P-09 flight the packs never drop below 35V, even after 8 minutes of airtime and 70A loads. The performance of the packs is higher than anything I have ever flown, and flight time is easily 9 minutes with excellent voltage remaining after the flight.
Also I was using the RASA folding 21x15 prop this year. I mount my motors to a firewall so I had a special hub made to allow me to run this prop without having my motor in the spinner. This setup provides much smoother power delivery than an APC, is approximately 2 dB quieter than a 21x14 and extremely quiet in flight. I think the folding prop has the advantage of absorbing flight loads by moving during the flight, this has the benefit of not reacting these loads into the airplane which reduced torque effects during corners etc. I notice a definite reduction in the torque reaction with this setup and am extremely pleased with it.
Some interesting news was that Jason Shulman was running the Plettenberg Xtra 30-10 Evo motor this year. I finally convinced him :) He is very happy with the motor, his feeling is that it is more powerful than the Hacker 14xl motor with about the same battery usage, and runs at the same temperature. The benefit is that there is no maintenance. I think its important to note that only Jason and I were the only two pilots in the finals to bring ONE airplane to the flight line. I think this shows the confidence we have in our equipment, the Plettenberg motor is nearly flawless.
The flying at this event was very high, Jason is a machine, I think he needs to get a job so the rest of us have a chance! Everyone in the finals flew great, and the talent pool is very deep. Its only going to get more difficult as the years go by.
Sorry I dont have any pictures, my good friend Dave Reaville is the man at taking pictures and keeping the daily blog going. Dave is absolutely superb at this, no one does it better IMO. Every spare second he has is dedicated to keeping the world informed, and I think we all owe Dave a big thanks for that.
His pictures are here,
http://picasaweb.google.com/Dave.Reaville/2008AMANationals
If you have not seen his blog I have a link posted on the left to it.
A bit about my setup for those wondering,
Comp-ARF Integral - special "Chad" paint scheme
Plettenberg Xtra 30-10 Evo motor
Schulze 32.80KA controller
Futaba R6014 Rx
Futaba servos - BLS 451 on ailerons, BLS 351 on rudder, 9650's on elevators
Futaba 14MZ transmitter
RASA 21x15 folding prop, approx 6500 rpm @ 72A static, special hub for mounting
Thunder Power 10s 5200 (2600 Prolites, 2P)
Thunder Power 2s 900 Rx pack
Tech-Aero Regulator
All up weight was 4780 grams
Well thats enough for now, I have to thank all my sponsors those guys are a huge help all the time, no way to do it without their support. I also have to hugely thank Jason Shulman and Comp-ARF for their help in getting me the Integrals for the Nats, Jason is a super guy to deal with a great rep for Comp-ARF. The Integral is a fantastic airplane and I am very pleased with it.
Also thanks to the Canadian crew, Dave, Mark, Dez, Harry for their help at the practice field and "motivational" speeches during the contest, and also to my caller Nedim who does a great job and helps me out a bunch.
Last but not least my wife and son Agnes, and Matthew, for putting up with "dad" being gone flying all the time.
Chad
This year the Nats was a big success for me, I accomplished many of the things that I set out to do this year, namely flying consistently, and making the finals. I have struggled in recent years with having consistently good flights, which was something I worked at this year. Although not all my flights were the best flights, they were all good flights. This is important at events like the US Nats where everything is very close.
There were a few new things at the Nats this year, being an off year most people are still flying gear from last season. Quique was flying his modified Euphoria which include a bunch of changes to the fin area and wing area. As well he has removed the quad servo setup from the wing and went with single 42 in-oz mini servos (don't remember the model) to drive both the lower and upper ailerons on each wing half. He said he cannot tell the difference between that and the quad servo setup, and it saved a huge amount of weight. He was also running the YS 170 on the CDI (capacitive discharge ignition) system, and I think a 19x11 prop (custom prop) at about 72-7400 rpm. This seemed to work well for him, his flying style was to fly in close with a slow but powerful style. I don't think this style would suit a monoplane very well, but the biplane presented nicely when flown like this. He unfortunately had a number of issues with what I think was the ignition system during the finals which cost him both his second F and unknown flights. He accepted his position at the Worlds as the current world champion so his 4th place finish did not affect him flying at the 2009 Worlds.
I was using a couple of new items as well, firstly being some new Thunder Power Prolite 2600 cells. These cells were used to make a 10s 2p 5200 mAh battery. These cells are 18C and the pack weighs approximately 1180 grams. I am not exactly sure when or if these will be available but they are very impressive cells, I was able to log some flight data on the cells, and during a normal P-09 flight the packs never drop below 35V, even after 8 minutes of airtime and 70A loads. The performance of the packs is higher than anything I have ever flown, and flight time is easily 9 minutes with excellent voltage remaining after the flight.
Also I was using the RASA folding 21x15 prop this year. I mount my motors to a firewall so I had a special hub made to allow me to run this prop without having my motor in the spinner. This setup provides much smoother power delivery than an APC, is approximately 2 dB quieter than a 21x14 and extremely quiet in flight. I think the folding prop has the advantage of absorbing flight loads by moving during the flight, this has the benefit of not reacting these loads into the airplane which reduced torque effects during corners etc. I notice a definite reduction in the torque reaction with this setup and am extremely pleased with it.
Some interesting news was that Jason Shulman was running the Plettenberg Xtra 30-10 Evo motor this year. I finally convinced him :) He is very happy with the motor, his feeling is that it is more powerful than the Hacker 14xl motor with about the same battery usage, and runs at the same temperature. The benefit is that there is no maintenance. I think its important to note that only Jason and I were the only two pilots in the finals to bring ONE airplane to the flight line. I think this shows the confidence we have in our equipment, the Plettenberg motor is nearly flawless.
The flying at this event was very high, Jason is a machine, I think he needs to get a job so the rest of us have a chance! Everyone in the finals flew great, and the talent pool is very deep. Its only going to get more difficult as the years go by.
Sorry I dont have any pictures, my good friend Dave Reaville is the man at taking pictures and keeping the daily blog going. Dave is absolutely superb at this, no one does it better IMO. Every spare second he has is dedicated to keeping the world informed, and I think we all owe Dave a big thanks for that.
His pictures are here,
http://picasaweb.google.com/Dave.Reaville/2008AMANationals
If you have not seen his blog I have a link posted on the left to it.
A bit about my setup for those wondering,
Comp-ARF Integral - special "Chad" paint scheme
Plettenberg Xtra 30-10 Evo motor
Schulze 32.80KA controller
Futaba R6014 Rx
Futaba servos - BLS 451 on ailerons, BLS 351 on rudder, 9650's on elevators
Futaba 14MZ transmitter
RASA 21x15 folding prop, approx 6500 rpm @ 72A static, special hub for mounting
Thunder Power 10s 5200 (2600 Prolites, 2P)
Thunder Power 2s 900 Rx pack
Tech-Aero Regulator
All up weight was 4780 grams
Well thats enough for now, I have to thank all my sponsors those guys are a huge help all the time, no way to do it without their support. I also have to hugely thank Jason Shulman and Comp-ARF for their help in getting me the Integrals for the Nats, Jason is a super guy to deal with a great rep for Comp-ARF. The Integral is a fantastic airplane and I am very pleased with it.
Also thanks to the Canadian crew, Dave, Mark, Dez, Harry for their help at the practice field and "motivational" speeches during the contest, and also to my caller Nedim who does a great job and helps me out a bunch.
Last but not least my wife and son Agnes, and Matthew, for putting up with "dad" being gone flying all the time.
Chad
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Integral 2008
Ok, since I am so excited about my new planes here are some very fresh pictures of them.
I thought I would try out a Comp-ARF Integral after seeing quite a few of them fly in 2007. I had flown a ZN Twister which is a really nice airplane since 2006, and this (2008) would have been my third season flying them, so I felt the need for a change.
I picked up a white one simply to try out, I didn't want to go painted since if I didn't like it I would be out more money! I starting flying it in March/April and felt it had a lot of potential. It flew as good as the Twister ever did, and I felt it did some things better. Considering the Twister was out one year prior to the Integral that is no real surprise.
So that left me with one white Integral! I knew I needed more but I didn't want the same thing as everyone else, it had to be a little different. I also did not want to go through the pain of painting up multiple white ones, I simply don't have the time anymore to do that especially in June.
I have to thank Jason for his help getting this going, and if you need an Integral (or anything else CARF) for that matter he is great to deal with. Although this is not a "stock" scheme, it is available as a custom scheme, just ask Jason for it :)
I thought I would try out a Comp-ARF Integral after seeing quite a few of them fly in 2007. I had flown a ZN Twister which is a really nice airplane since 2006, and this (2008) would have been my third season flying them, so I felt the need for a change.
I picked up a white one simply to try out, I didn't want to go painted since if I didn't like it I would be out more money! I starting flying it in March/April and felt it had a lot of potential. It flew as good as the Twister ever did, and I felt it did some things better. Considering the Twister was out one year prior to the Integral that is no real surprise.
So that left me with one white Integral! I knew I needed more but I didn't want the same thing as everyone else, it had to be a little different. I also did not want to go through the pain of painting up multiple white ones, I simply don't have the time anymore to do that especially in June.
So I talked to Jason Shulman, who was my rep for the white Integral about doing something different. Jason took a lot of time to help out and we came up with a modified set of colors for the stock C-ARF scheme. When I received the pictures of it I was super happy, it was better than I could have hoped!
I have to thank Jason for his help getting this going, and if you need an Integral (or anything else CARF) for that matter he is great to deal with. Although this is not a "stock" scheme, it is available as a custom scheme, just ask Jason for it :)
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