Flying in Watampone

I’ve been flying “the foamy” for the 7th times in South Celebes. My last flying was in Stadion La Patau Watampone. It was a comfortable place for flying a small scale aircraft especially for park flyer or slow flyer aircrafts. I usually flying it in early morning and in the late afternoon. The wind always blew smoothly, hence I’ve got a good chance flying it.



However, It was hard to take off from the field because of the grass covered the whole sports ground. “The foamy” could fly by hand launching then fly on the sky nicely. I really enjoyed flying it when I controlled the radio and the aircraft nearly reached me. The aircraft could turn on the left and right or up and down above the stadium easily.




On the other hand, I noticed that this ‘aircraft’ had get trouble on its electric engine three times. The first problem happened when I was flying it for the first time. The aircraft crashed landing in banana’s plant. Fortunately, the fuselage and wingspan were OK but the electric engine had gotten big trouble in its bolt position. I tried to fix it by changing the bold position. It looked work well afterward I felt satisfied after ‘the foamy’ flying again smoothly. The second problem, two bolts in the electric engine were missing when the aircraft was flying but I substitute with similar ones. Finally, the wire in electric engine was broken. I tried to fix by reconnect the broken wire again. I checked to make sure that it worked. I felt satisfied because "the foamy" could fly nicely again.

Watampone, June 23 2008

Goes to Celebes

After having fun fly in Serangan Island, Bali I think its time to go to Sengkang and Watampone, Celebes. I will spend my leisure time for two weeks in Celebes then back again to Denpasar for my duty. It seems that I will be "a single fighter" again for short time period. I will fly alone and fix "the aircraft" problems, too. This is a lonely aeromodeller consequence, it just looks like a terrible fate.

I prepared "the foamy" in the night before leaving. I wrapped it with used newspaper. It took approximately 15 minutes did it. I hoped that there nothing something wrong would happen on its journey. When I was going to the airport, I felt nervous because my plane would leave 10.55 a.m. I only had 10 minutes to reach my plane. I felt I was crazy in the airport.



Fortunately, I could fly as the latest passenger. I took "the foamy" to the baggage but it didn't fit. A stewardess sang a song in bahasa while she was looking at me and "the foamy". A children song about flying with airplane. I put "the foamy" at the back passenger chair but it should have taken risk. The stewardess suggested me to put "the foamy" in the special wardrobe near my chair. Finally, my aircraft with my "aircraft" landing in Hasanuddin International Airport Makassar. Happy flying...


Watampone, June 18 2008.

Aero for All Ages

He seemed lost something in his eldery age. However, his feeling still younger than his real age of 60's. His friends and relatives usually called him as Om Leo. He has a high spirit playing aeromodelling. Om Leo has forgotten some aero techniques and aircraft maneuvers on the air so he just saw Pak Hari flying his electric glider. Om Leo has been absent for about 15 years in aeromodelling. That's why he asked some questions about aeromodelling to Pak Hari,who has been a Bali aeromodeling creator, enthusiastically.



Aeromodeling doesn't belong to certain age but also it can be done by all level of ages. Not only children can enjoy it but also adult or even grandfather. Someone get satisfaction on this hobby when his aircraft airborned and the 'pilot' could drive his aircraft as he like. The 'pilot' can make manoeuvrings, rolls, or other aero techniques. However, it can become terrible thing when the aircraft crashed. The problem had arisen since some people justified that this hobby is still expensive. That is slightly true because some aircraft materials such as fuel, receiver, radio, servo, and engines are expensive. Moreover, these materials were imported from Japan Europe, and America. In contrast, there also inexpensive ones depend on the quality of aircraft materials. Generally, the cheapest ones were imported from China.

May be if some one who want to try this hobby it is wisely to think that the enjoyments doing aero is the most valuable rather than thinking about the price.

Denpasar, June 9, 2008

My Handmade Foamy Aircraft

This is my first handmade small scale aircraft. It made of polyfoam which has light in weight and easy to be cut. It has 100 cm wingspan long, 80 cm fuselage, and only 440 grams weight. This aircraft powered by Tower Pro Brushless motor with 2 cells battery. I also put the Electronic Speed Control 18 ampere to control propeller rapidity.

The first flying was in Serangan Island, Bali. My small scale aircraft seemed flying easily because the wind blew softly. I tried to airborne and turned it on the left and right successfully. However, I need to learn more how to roll the aircraft in order to do other maneuvers. It took approximately 15 minutes flew over the sky. I really enjoyed flying it.

My transmitter was 7 channels but I only used three cannels; throttle, elevator, and aileron. The receiver mode was only PPM so I shouldn’t have flown the aircraft far away from me. Nevertheless, I flew it about 400 meters away from me. The PPM receiver wasn’t able to receive signals from my transmitter. The aircraft lost of control and felt down into the lagoon side.

Denpasar, June 3 2008

Reciever Aeromodeling

Fungsi reciever dalam pesawat aeromodeling yaitu untuk menerima sinyal yang dipancarkan oleh transmitter atau radio control yang dikendalikan oleh 'pilot' di darat. Seorang 'pilot' aeromodeling harus menggunakan frekuensi yang berbeda dengan 'pilot' lain apabila bersamaan latihan dalam satu tempat. Hal ini untuk menghindari interferensi atau 'tabrakan' frekuensi sehingga bisa mengakibatkan pesawat hilang kendali.

Kristal digunakan untuk menentukan frekuensi sehingga 'pilot' merasa aman dan range frekuensi menjadi jelas. Kristal dipasang pada reciever dan transmitter dengan nilai frekuensi yang sama agar radio penerima dapat membaca keinginan 'pilot' dan pemancar di darat.

Reciever mempunyai chanel yang beragam misalnya 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, dan 14. Biasanya band reciever (berlaku pula pada transmitter) terdiri atas dua band yakni low band dan high band. Misalnya pada reciever 4 chanel low band 72 Mhz mempunyai channel dengan angka 16 sampai 35, sedangkan untuk high band pada chanel 36 sampai 60.

Dikenal pula istilah PPM (Pulse Code Modulation) dan PCM (Pulse Position Modulation). Perbedaan ini terletak pada jenis gelombang modulasi atau informasi yang dipancarkan dan diterima. Diantara kedua jenis tersebut, yang lebih terjamin digunakan yaitu PCM. Untuk jenis PPM lebih rentan terhadap interferensi gelombang radio pada HP.

Denpasar, 21 Mei 2008

Auto Pilot Pesawat Aeromodeling

Auto pilot bukan hanya dikenal dalam dunia penerbangan 'nyata', namun ternyata digunakan juga dalam dunia aeromodeling. Ketenaran alat ini mungkin tidak sebeken dengan komponen aeromodeling lainnya misalnya engine, propeller, dan servo. Alhasil, belum banyak aeromodeller mengetahui bahkan menggunakan alat ini.

Dari namanya saja kita bisa perkirankan fungsi alat ini. Fungsinya sama dengan namanya. Mengendalikan pesawat dengan otomatis. Namun tidak berarti bahwa 100% tanpa campur tangan 'pilot' pemegang remote control. Sang 'pilot' tetap dibutuhkan untuk proses take off dan landing.

Sepengetahuan penulis (maaf kalo masih keliru), berdasarkan jenis sensor yang digunakan auto pilot aeromodeling terdiri atas dua tipe. Jenis pertama menggunakan sensor cahaya. Jenis kedua yakni dengan mengandalkan temperatur. Bentuknya berupa kotak kecil sehingga praktis ditempel pada bagian bawah fuselage. Setiap sudut masing-masing dilengkapi dengan sebuah sensor. Terdapat sebuah alat lagi yang disambungkan dari sensor melalui empat buah kabel. Alat ini ditempatkan dalam fuselage yang selanjutnya dihubungkan dengan servo aileron dan elevator.

Prinsip kerjanya, jika pesawat belok kiri atau kanan dan stik elevator pada transmitter atau radio control dilepaskan, dengan segera auto pilot akan mengoreksi posisi pesawat pada posisi level atau stabil. Begitu pula dengan proses kerja pada elevator. Jadi alat ini bisa mencegah pesawat stall karena pada saat 'pilot' mengalami kesalahan kecil atau lengah yang berpotensi pesawat stall dan crash maka auto pilot dengan segera memposisikan pesawat stabil.

Tidak ada salahnya para pemula aeromodeling mencoba alat yang satu ini...

Denpasar, 13 Mei 2008

Runway Pulau Serangan dan Parasailing

Berhubung lapangan di Pulau Serangan masuk wilayah proyek penghijauan maka latihan aeromodeling turut mengalami dampaknya. Lapangan yang dulunya luas untuk take off dan landing kini telah menjadi semakin sempit karena menjadi tempat ditanamnya pohon penghijauan.
Banyak gundukan tanah bekas galian untuk ditanami pohon bertebaran sepanjang runway.

Rupanya aeromodeler di Bali terpaksa harus mencari lahan baru untuk latihan. Sebenarnya runway di Pulau Serangan masih bisa digunakan untuk latihan namun butuh keahlian khusus untuk menerbangkan dan mendaratkan pesawat karena runway telah tergusur dan sangat sempit. Jika tidak tepat betul mengendalikan pesawat untuk landing, bisa-bisa menabrak warung-warung di sampingnya yang merangkap sebagai shelter.

Masalahnya yaitu jika pilotnya masih pemula tentunya butuh bantuan untuk mendaratkan pesawat atau jangan-jangan jika menerbangkan sendiri akan menambah daftar crash pesawat.
Nah....dari pada berisikio terbang lalu crash lebih baik lupakan dulu untuk sejenak lapangan di Pulau Serangan.

Saya coba 'terbang beneran' dengan menggunakan parasut yang ditarik oleh speedboat atau parasailing (maaf kalau istilahnya keliru). Speedboat telah menyalakan mesin, bergerak pelan-pelan lalu kencang dan waktunya untuk terbang. Berlari sedikit lalu parasutnya sudah melambung ke angkasa. Dahsyat rasanya jika sudah berada diketinggian. Saat akan mendarat laju speedboat dikurangi dan parasut diarahkan menuju daratan. Setelah parasut berada di bibir pantai, saya menarik tali di atas kepala saya agar parasutnya dapat dikendalikan belok kanan menuju daratan. Parasut perlahan-lahan turun dan saya mendarat dengan selamat.....

Denpasar, 3 Mei 2008