The Yankee Flyer

ByAndrew Fiertek

President – Dan Jester, dan.jester@snet.net

Vice President – Tim Locke, tlocke02@snet.net

Treasurer – Sharon Roys, sharon.roys@bauerct.com

Secretary – Mila Jungmann, milajungmann@snet.net

Site Director – Deane Williams, deane.Williams@hs.utc.com

Flight Safety – Rick Tenan, clancy@neuron.uchc.edu

Newsletter Editor – Andrew Fiertek, n1ylo@home.com

Beer Director – Wayne Ripley, trx158@aol.com

Scribe Mila Jungmann

1. George passed his H4 test with Dan playing the role of the administrator (kudos to both).
2. $336.00 treasury balance.
3. A discussion about the wood-chip issue had Dan volunteer to track down his source and get some. Tim brought up Flemig (sic?) farm as a possible source.
4. A discussion about concrete in the launch gulley was left unresolved.
5. Ian did a great job on the radio show on July 20. A transcript is available.

1. Dan has secured a 10 hp mower, which he placed in the Talcott LZ for club use.
2. Bob Gut has been secretly mowing the field (thanks Bob!).
3. $2100.00 in aerotow fund. $277.00 normal balance, no outstanding bills.
4. If no one is using the RC field you may fly your models there, otherwise DO NOT turn on your radio (model radio); go over to the RC member and discuss frequencies before you even take it out of the car.

1. There was a discussion about winches and winch technology. Dean has some ideas about potential

fields. I have embarked upon a R& D winch project and have all major parts short of an engine. My

calculations show a 10 hp motor would do it. I have began building the reel, I have 3000 ft of 700 lb

dacron line, necessary bearings as well as rollers. If you know about a Honda or Yamaha motorcycle of

350cc to 650cc please let me know. The gearbox would save me a lot of D not to mention R.

2. Send in your model airplane frequencies to Deane, he is compiling a list so people can fly at the same time at the cape.
3. $307.00 current treasury balance, $2100.00 aerotow fund.
4. Rick, Bob, Dan, and Sharon have overhauled old mower (thanks People!)

1. Tractor burns oil please add halfway through cut!

1. There was a big discussion about Zagis, building tricks, repairs, radio mounts etc.
2. Again email or call Deane Williams, stating your frequencies for R.C. models so people can coordinate.
3. Then we landed on the slippery slope of Viagra. It turns out mountain climbers have found it helps them breathe better at high altitude. Well you can imagine where that went.
4. Halloween Fun-fly at the Cape, be there or be square. If you need a place to stay other than a motel, one campground will still be open. Click anywhere on the icon shown or on the address.

Highland Road
North Truro, MA 02652
Ph: (508) 487-1847
350 sites

http://www.ntcacamping.com/accomm.htm

For a listing of all campgrounds on the cape click on the link

http://www.campmass.com/capecod.html

http://www.seascapemotorinn.com/FlyIn.html

Hang gliding magazine's 25th Annual Halloween Fly-In article

Click here for more Cape Cod pictures

Anyone planning to fly an RC must check in with Deane Williams (the CHGA RC/Conglomerate) and get their RC CHANNEL pinned off or email Deane before the Fly-In with the radio channels you are planning to use.

pniznik@aol.com

Recent injury statistics published in the USHGA magazines indicate that head injuries account for about 25% of the injuries in our sport. And despite the potential gravity of such injuries, there is not much attention by pilots or manufacturers to reach the protection standards available by helmets used in other sports.

Part of the problem is that HG and PG pilots value helmets for their lightweight and sleek design. This market force has distracted helmet designers away from focusing on the many tasks a flying helmet should perform. So what does a helmet really need to do? And what can manufacturers and pilots do to inform themselves and improve helmets? We have independent safety certification experts like the DHV and AFNOR for our harnesses and wings, why not for our helmets?

Luckily, heads everywhere have a hero in the form of the Snell Memorial Foundation (www.smf.org). Snell was founded in 1957 after William "Pete" Snell died in an auto racing accident when a helmet failed to protect his head. An independent, non-profit organization was founded with doctors and engineers to improve helmet design by both research and establishing standard testing and certification of head protection for many sports. The Snell certification is now the desired industry standard for the best recreational and racing helmets for motorcycling, bicycling, skiing, snowboarding, watercraft and even harness racing. Anyone involved in these sports knows how the Snell research and certification program has improved the safety of their helmets.

Look at Snell certified helmets next time you are in any bicycle, motorcycle, or ski shop. How much and what types of padding is in there? How is the padding designed to behave in an impact? How is the shell engineered to distribute energy away from your head? Read the literature associated with the helmet to find out how they work (most good helmets are proud to explain their design). How do these helmets compare with what you are flying?

Odds are, your flying helmet isn’t as good as you would hope. Many are just shells with cloth linings that are about as useful as wearing a clay pot on your head. But we can change that.

We pilots can start by voting with our wallets. Money talks. Buy helmets that reach stricter standards. Some European flying helmets now must meet standards (called EN966 –HPG/UL) in order to be sold in the new European Union. These EN966 standards are not perfect, but a step in the right direction.

Manufacturers could start working with independent groups like Snell. For a nominal fee, Snell will test, consult and certify helmets with special consideration to the rigors and needs of each sport. If you are in a position to discuss helmet safety with distributors or manufacturers, inform them that you and other consumers are looking for the kind of assurances Snell certification will give.

Our desire for safety improved harness and wing designs dramatically. Independent testing by organizations like the DHV and AFNOR help inform consumers and improve safety, and so might Snell certification for flying helmets.

If you don’t think you need a safe helmet on your head, then maybe there’s nothing in there worth protecting…

(The author does not sell nor endorse any current helmets or manufacturers, nor is he associated with the Snell Memorial Foundation. What does he know is he drives a cartoon car)?

Please note that a good companion article on selecting helmets ("Brain Damaged Yet?" by James Freeman) is available free online at www.xcmag.com

By: Mila Jungmann

It was a quiet day, the wind was 0-5 South South-West. There was obviously no lift and a few pilots were mulling around in the heat. We had driven up to New Hampshire to aerotow and to camp out but there was nothing to get excited about really; we never even set-up. There were a couple pilots from out of state we talked with, most notably Chester from California who flies an Exxtacy. He told us about the West coast flying scene a little bit and I must admit I’m a bit surprised how differently they approach things out there. It makes sense when you think about it, the Northeast being the conservative part of the country. I asked, "what’s your favorite site to fly out there?"

"Well" he answered, "I fly mostly around L.A., there are a lot of inversions, but the ridge lift works at least half the time. The water’s pretty warm around there too so you get to fly and then take a dip. The flying is a lot better in the mountains I think, but it’s not reliable. Most times I went out there it was blown out. No the best flying is probably around San Francisco. The wind is straight in, and further back you get a lot of lift from thermals. You can stay up for most of the day there. It’s a long drive for me though, I’ve only flown there once. It really is a wonderful place; many pilots live in the area and there are some wild parties. They have a hang glider shop near one of the sites, it’s called… er…something something hang… or hung…something…ah I can’t remember."

‘I tell you, that was the best stocked hang glider shop I ever saw. The first thing I saw when I walked in was the flight suits. There were racks full of them in all sizes and styles. Some were kind of outlandish but I guess that’s normal to the sport. Anyway what surprised me was a lot of them were leather. It kind of makes sense when you think about it, all the bikers wear leather for the wind. The only thing is, they were really pricey if you ask me.’

‘They had all kinds of other gear too. There was a huge glass counter filled with all kinds of vario’s, some kinds I never saw before. I think most were Swedish or something because they had really weird names. All the vario’s were very reasonably priced, they looked real handy too, really streamlined. They came in all kinds of flashy colors too. The cool thing was, you know how sometimes you can’t hear your vario’ beeping because of the wind? Well a lot of these vario’s vibrate like a pager. There must be a lot of paraglider pilots in the area because a great number of the instruments were strap-ons. They had a glass case on the wall that was full of carabineers; they looked German they were built so solid. They were in two parts with a swivel between, almost like handcuffs for a really secure hook-in."

"They carry a really strange style of harness too, personally I think they had too many belts and buckles on them but I’m sure they are real secure- no way you can fall out of one of those things. They had a lot of products I never heard of before. The girl showed me this spray that you put on your rigid that will make it even stiffer. She said if you use it on your flexi it will perform just like a rigid. The stuff smelled real nice too. She showed me some other stuff; you rub it on your leading edge to greatly improve your penetration. They had a whole bunch of varieties. They also had industrial size containers of lip balm in many different flavors, predominantly cherry for some reason. The air must be real dry around there."

"They had really funny looking mannequins in that place, I think they were inflatable, which makes sense for storage, but they all had a very startled look on their face like they just got caught in cloud suck or something. The girl working there was very nice, she was dressed very trendy and she said they had a web site too. It was www. er… something with …er…some exes in it …something.com, I forget I don’t know much about computers anyway. She said it had a lot of live action. They must have a couple cameras up in the hills hooked up. She must have been lonely because she gave me her number and said to call her for a date anytime. She really wasn’t my type though, she had too much facial hair. I think her name was Bobbi or something like that."

"Did you buy any gear?" I asked. He said "Well they had these really great camel-back canteens, really heavy duty red rubber construction, and they were inexpensive too except the mouthpiece took a bit of getting used to. Here I’ll show you." He rummaged in his harness and pulled it out, holding it up for admiration. "pretty nice I said, looks just like a hot water bottle." "Yeah it was a real good place…I wish I could remember the name of it." He went on " there was sign up out front that said ‘adults only’ which I thought was a real good idea, kids shouldn’t be flying hang gliders anyhow."

We talked some more and then Chester took off to fly. We went and had a couple beers for the road and drove home. There’s nothing like beer to make driving more enjoyable, but that’s another story….

Talcott LZ was mowed, on Saturday October 13, 2001 by Bob Gut with some assistance from Andrew Fiertek.

Eastern Mountain Sports-Club Day

Wayne Ripley

 I'm looking for $800.00.