Model Airplanes

Brock Callen Sr. and Jr. flew into Guam on Dec. 24, 2016, and interrupted the Christmas Eve celebration of the crew of the M/V Falkor. They had been traveling for 24 hours, had crossed the International Date Line, and they were tired. The Callens had traveled all this way to go to sea. On the face of it, it might not seem noteworthy that the director of Sail Martha’s Vineyard and a professional kiteboarder were going to sea, but neither of them had ever boarded a research ship before, and they were about to spend three weeks in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean. The scientific mission of the Falkor cruise was to map parts of the seafloor near Johnston Atoll, 800 miles south of Hawaii. And the Callens were to help do the mapping.

Their participation in the cruise resulted from the work of Brock Callen Jr. He is a goodwill ambassador for 11th Hour Racing, a program of the Schmidt Family Foundation. The foundation also created the Schmidt Ocean Institute in 2009, and deployed the Falkor to do oceanographic and marine geological research. The institute routinely includes nonscientist members as part of their research teams on Falkor cruises.

Article source: http://www.mvtimes.com/2017/02/08/callens-help-map-ocean-floor/

U.S. Marine Sgt. Ryan Boele (left), a MV-22 flight line mechanic chief with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 163 (Reinforced), 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, and Lance Cpl. David Bath (right), a MV-22 flight line mechanic with VMM-163, 11th MEU, adjust cables on an engine of an MV-22 Osprey within the hanger bay of the USS Makin Island (LHD 8) Dec. 27. US Marine Corps photo.

THE PENTAGON – The Marine Corps is tackling the little problems that combine to create major burdens on the aviation maintenance community, the deputy commandant for aviation told reporters today.

From a lack of spare parts, to Class C mishaps involving damaging a plane while towing it on the ground, to wasting time moving planes from one squadron to another, Lt. Gen. Jon Davis said at a media roundtable today that he was cracking down on these things that ultimately take maintainers’ attention away from routine maintenance that keeps airplanes flying.

“You guys are all very interested in the Class A mishap rate because that’s the one where airplanes are destroyed and people are killed; we’ve been focused on the little ones as well, because that takes airplanes off the flight schedule [and] I can’t fly my guys the hours they’re supposed to,” he said.

A recent Ground Mishap Review the Marine Corps conducted showed that these smaller mishaps – which have doubled over the last two years – are greatly contributing to “not mission capable-maintenance” rates, which keeps squadrons from having enough ready planes to support

Article source: https://news.usni.org/2017/02/08/marines-going-after-small-maintenance-issues-that-result-big-readiness-problems

Call it necessity, call it progression or what have you, but drag racing has, through the years, gradually shifted away from the use of true production engines and parts in favor of aftermarket engine combinations intended to wring out ever-larger cubic inch displacements and, in turn, horsepower. These days, production engines are the exception to the norm, rather than the norm itself, and it’s that fact — and his familiarity with GM’s LS engine platform — that inspired ATI Performance Products’ J.C. Beattie, Jr. to go a unique direction with his Top Sportsman Camaro project.

J.C., the second-generation leader of the Maryland-based racing drivetrain manufacturer, has been competing for a number of years in Super Stock and Stock Eliminator with factory-built race cars, most notably a supercharged 2012 COPO Camaro that he’s run in both Super Stock and in the heads-up Ultra Street class with a blown LSX combination. ATI has, since that first run of COPO’s in 2012, been the provider of the transmissions, converters, and dampers for the COPO program, so it’s certainly near and dear to J.C.’s heart. To that end, he’s spent plenty of time under the hood and behind the wheel of the factory-built rockets and gained ample experience with the supercharged LSX, so when it came time to sketch the plans for his next endeavor, he didn’t have to look far.

J.C. laid the groundwork for his foray into fast doorslammer racing a number of years ago when ATI-sponsored

Article source: http://www.dragzine.com/features/car-features/j-c-beattie-jr-s-copo-inspired-ls-powered-top-sportsman-camaro/

model airplanes have come a long way from the days when you stood in your backyard and the little buzzing plane whirled around on a string. These days, remote-controlled model airplanes are often lovingly crafted historic recreations worth thousands — and even tens of thousands of dollars — that soar high in the sky.

Jerry Willette, with the Champlain Valley Flyers model airplane club in northern New York, built a replica of a World War II twin-engine fighter-bomber called a P-38. It has a wing span of nearly 10 feet.

“This was built right from scratch. You got to get the plans and then you gotta make all the pieces up, and then you build it,” he says. “This particular airplane right here was probably four or five years in the making.”

It’s a beautiful work of art made of balsa wood and paint and wire, with the added complication that all the mechanics — the little servos, the wing flaps, the miniature engines — have to actually work. It’s not cheap. The engines that power these model planes can cost $5,000 apiece.

Like a lot of hobbyists, Willette has loved flight since he was little. His curiosity blossomed into a decades-long obsession.

“My dad used to take us to the airport when we were little kids,” he says. “We didn’t have a lot of money. We’d go to the airport and watch the airplanes take off and land.”

Club member Mike Pecue is an actual pilot. He owns an auto parts store and splits his

Article source: http://www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=493949584