It's been a very busy month since my last newsletter. First and foremost, we had Curtis Youngblood, and his wife Carla, visit us in New Zealand for a funfly we had in Rotorua in late November. Helping to organise this took quite a bit of time and effort but was well worth it in the end. For more details, check out the article in this edition.
I've also been working on my Webra 91 Vigor to try and get things sorted with it and have installed a Muscle Pipe II on it to sort things out. Still got a way to go yet, but that's another story.
Now, I'm trying to get myself sorted for the New Zealand Nationals coming up on the 29th and 30th of this month. I did a bit of a refresher flight with the CS the other night and lets just say I need to get a bit more time in before now and the Nats J.

The value of experience
While Curtis was in the country many of us took the opportunity to drill him with questions and ideas. He test flew many of our machines and taught us what to listen for in an engine, how to tell if it's running too lean, too hot, overspeeding etc. I have to admit that I had it all wrong. Engines that I thought were underpowered, were actually overpowered but I hadn't loaded them properly with the right throttle and pitch curves. Tuning the engine by feeling the temperature of the backplate as opposed to listening to the engine was another one that I hadn't tried.
I've said it more than once, but I'll say it some more, I learned more in 25-30 minutes with Curtis than I have in two years. If you get the opportunity to spend some time with experienced people, make the most of it and get as much information as you can from them. That way you're in a position to pass the knowledge on as well.

End of the year already...
All of a sudden another year is coming to an end and I have to look back and say this has probably been the most productive year of helicopters I've had. I sold two helicopters and gained two (cause I have to have three, no more, no less), my CS has made me really enjoy the competition aspect of flying and will carry me through into F3C next year, and my Voyager, now more than ever, is allowing me to get into 3D comfortably. Although the weather has been on the whole, crap this year, I feel my flying has developed a bit.

Things I saw from this year I won't forget:
· Watching a Z230 take on a flag pole (the flag pole won).
· Watching an Xcell Gasser literally fall out of the sky into a tree and be flying again five minutes later.
· Watching (and feeling) an Xcell 60 death spiral to it's death. Crash isn't the word I'd use, 'impact area' would probably be more apt.
· My first pirouetting flip.
· Frazer Briggs flying his plank to music.
· Standing five meters away from Curtis Youngblood's Vigor when it did a chaos launch. You don't forget that.

Things I saw from this year I'd sooner forget:
· Watching my Voyager fall out of the sky because I hadn't fastened the battery monitor correctly and it flew up into the rotor head popping off all the links…
· Watching my two-flight-old Standard Vigor roll over on its side due to a broken pitch servo arm.
· Very nearly writing my new Vigor CS off at it's first competition during a roll, I swear the judges held their breath until it pulled out…

Merry Christmas
I hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas and Santa brings you lots of goodies for your helis.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
Si

Articles this issue are:
Curtis Youngblood in New Zealand
Helicopter legend, Curtis Youngblood, with his wife Carla, visited New Zealand during November for our helicopter event of the year! Click here

Futaba GV-1 Governor
Nigel Brackley explains the ins and outs of one of Futaba's more complex accessories, the GV-1 Governor. Click here

3D: Tic-Tocs/Metronome
One of the first 3D maneuvers is the elevator and aileron flip. Flips often form the basis of the more demanding 3D maneuvers. Click here

Feel free to contact me at simon@littlerotors.com at any time.
Si