Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Air Models / February 2004

http://andrews.home.cern.ch/andrews/ballon/anglais/principa.htm

http://andrews.home.cern.ch/andrews/ballon/anglais/principa.htm

http://www.blastvalve.com/Interests/Models_and_RC/index.shtml

                    Marty

how do you get it to come back??   ;)

Scot D

Here is an article on blimp flying that just appeared in the Aeroguidance
newsletter.

FLYING THE PECK POLYMER BLIMP
by Bob Noll

If you have attended either a Binghamton Rangers or Binghamton Senators
hockey game, you have probably seen the white blimp flying above the stands
before the game and between periods. When the Binghamton Rangers left for
Hartford, their blimp went with them. The BC Icemen could not find a sponsor
for a blimp and so five years passed before another blimp appeared in the
Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. Now another blimp is flying with the
Bing-hamton Senators logo and I'm back to flying indoor RC in the winter.
The Oakdale Mall sponsors the blimp and a banner with their logo is fastened
around the girth of the blimp. The blimp is manufactured by Peck Polymers of
California and measures 13 feet long. It is made from .004" thick vinyl and
filled with helium for buoyancy. Propulsion is provided by three Speed 400
electric motors with 6x3 props. Two of the motors are located on the
gondola, which is attached to the underside of the envelope, and the third
motor is mounted on the movable rudder. The propellers are enclosed in
plastic shrouds for safety. Four fins at the rear of the blimp pro-vide
horizontal and vertical stability. The radio supplied with the blimp is
Airtronics and control is provided by the ability to rotate the two main
motors up and down, control yaw with the rudder and speed with the motor
RPM. After much testing with the original Rangers blimp it was determined
that the best way to fly the blimp was to fly it as a lifting body. The
manufacturer suggested ballasting the blimp for neutral buoyancy and
controlling height by pointing the main motors up or down while controlling
forward direction with the rudder motor. We tried this for a short time but
soon learned that better control was obtained when the lifting body approach
was used. Basically what this means is that we control the height by
adjusting the forward speed. We ballast the blimp to weigh one ounce at
launch so that if failure to the propulsion system occurs, the blimp will
return to earth. The transmitter is mode II and the rudder servo is
connected to the aileron channel while the front motor pitch are operated
with the elevator stick and, of course, the motor speed is with the throttle
stick. Attached to the bottom of the gondola is an ingenious mechanical
mechanism that throws out business cards on com-mand by an auxiliary
channel. Steven Bard designed this mechanism for the Rangers blimp when the
unit from Peck Polymers became very unreliable. Six of these prize cards are
thrown out to fans on each of the between periods flights. My regular crew
consists of Steven Bard, Art Reigal and Terry Terrenoire. Bill Underkofler,
Jim Quinn and Mike Harris have also helped on occasion. All but Mike have
flown the blimp at games. A minimum of two people are required for a flight
with one acting as ground crew and the other being the pilot. Having two for
ground crew is helpful but not neces-sary. This year we encountered a new
challenge. The American Hockey League (AHL), following the lead of the
National Hockey League (NHL), mandated that all arenas install nets on both
ends of the ice extending from the glass to the ceil-ing. This was
legislated after a fan was killed when hit by a puck at an NHL game. The new
challenge is to fly behind the net so we can drop prize cards to those who
sit in the ends. The nets do not allow much space and it feels like
threading a needle when making the pass around the back of the nets. The
blimp, weighing only one ounce, is not very responsive so there is no time,
or altitude, to recover from a bad move. The trick is to fly above the crowd
without getting close enough that someone can reach the blimp. Over the
years there have been a few jerks who thought it would be fun to bat the
blimp like a beach ball. One fan even stood on his seat to reach it. I must
say that it can get very hairy when someone impedes with its flight and we
have had a few incidents that have resulted in major repairs.

Actually, the blimp can be very maneuverable, as far as blimps go, and it
can be fun racing the zamboni, trying to back into the open goal and doing
touch-and-goes. After flights, the blimp is hoisted to the rafters behind
the Canadian flag. Because of the molecular size of helium and the po-rosity
of the 4 mil. vinyl, it looses much of its helium while resting in its
hanger. It is always a sad sight when we lower it before a game but after an
injection of helium it regains its health and does its job. In fact, we have
to add helium during the eve-ning because of this problem. If you are at a
Senators game, visit us under the stands near the Zamboni entrance to the
ice and we will show you how it works. If you would like to serve as part of
our ground crew, give me a phone call and if we have a short crew, you can
join us for the fun.