[RCSE] Ripley's...

[Simon Van Leeuwen]

Yesterday I attended a swap meet put on by our local soaring club, and 
ended up chatting with my good friend Dave Fowlow. He started to tell me 
some stories of his adventures with some fliers way up north of us here 
in Calgary, Alberta;

First some info on these northern fliers. Now I don't want to call these 
guys strange, cause they are not. It's all relative...right? They just 
really REALLY enjoy their privacy out in the wilderness. They like 
flying all kinds of stuff, and have quite a few F3x moldies, powered 
stuff, electrics, etc. They keep to themselves. The movie Deliverance 
comes to my mind...but in the nicest way.

Anyways, Dave was up north the other day on oil-related business and was 
visiting them...it was -53C (-63.4F)  outside (no kidding)!

They ask Dave "Do ya want to go fly'n"? Dave sez sure! So they bundle up 
and walk out to an aluminum sided quonset and go in. I can't recall the 
type of powered aircraft Dave mentioned, they were typical 0.60 sized 
glow-fuel powered jobbies. There was some old Quaker-style aircraft as 
well, with stringers and dope.

They filled up the tank on one and fired it up inside the quonset with 
the big doors closed. The temperature in the hanger was hovering around 
a balmy(!) zero Celcius. The guy working the needles had it absolutely 
slobberingly rich, and Dave could not understand why. It would seem in 
fact the guy was getting ready to actually fly it this way.

All of a sudden a couple of guys throw open the big doors, another guy 
picks up the aircaft and literally lauches it out of the quonset through 
the open doors, AND JUST AS QUICKLY CLOSES THE DOORS! The guy with the 
transmitter RUNS up to the little frosty window, and proceeds to fly the 
thing in a big circly from inside the "hanger".

All of a sudden the engine goes lean and begins to SCREAM like a 
banshee...then QUITS! Now the aircraft is heading STRAIGHT back towards 
the quonset. All of a sudden they throw open the doors and the pilot 
flies the now-deadstick plane right back inside the building. SLAM go 
the doors as they swing closed behind the little plane.

The pilot sez "watch this". He picks up the aircraft and attempts to 
pour the glowfuel out of the fuel tank...it has literally turned to 
jelly! Going from 0C to -53C, within a few seconds has turned the fuel 
to porridge. NO WONDER the engine needed to be rich! Then, as if on 
command, as the pilot is holding the jellyed fuel tank, it begins to 
turn back into a liquid and pour out.

Dave was in awe. They asked him if he would like to have a go. Well, we 
all know Dave, HE's A KEENER!

One of the chaps had JUST finished one of those ancient (stick and 
tissue) kits, but instead of tissue and dope, he covered in the almighty 
Monokote. Now I'm think'n I know exactly where this is going. I have 
seen Monokote fail in really cold weather as it becomes extremely 
brittle. I could not have been further form the truth.

So anyways, they go through the cockamainy start-up procedure, throw 
open the big quonset doors, the launcher launches the plane, SLAM go the 
doors, Dave runs up to the little window and proceeds to fly.

All of a sudden there's this strange noise, the motor goes ballistic, 
but the ailing aircraft falls to the ground! "What could be wrong" 
everyone wonders. Well...when the little aircraft, with stringer and rib 
contruction, with an internal (air) temperature of zero, and an OUTSIDE 
temperature of -53C, the builder had done such a bang-up job covering it 
in Monokote, it turned out to be perfectly sealed chambers.

When the gang walked up to the aircraft, it was FLAT as a pancake. The 
almost immediate contraction of the air within the wings and fuselage as 
it hit the frigid outer air, that inner air shrunk up like your private 
parts do when subject to similar circumstances. The balsa ribs were 
crushed vertically.

Dave said as he was walking away from the hanger, he noticed a whole 
load of small pointy dents in the quonset doors, actually the whole end 
of the building. When he inquired, he was told there are occasions when 
they don't get the doors opened in time for landing.

During the summer Dave kept asking everyone for any and all Cox 0.49 
engines for these guys.Dave solicicted me for any that I had left over 
from when I used to fly U-control in the late sixties/early seventies.

When I asked why, he said the guys like to build aircraft of all sorts, 
then throw an engine(s) on them, and just launch it! No control 
system...free flight! The surrounding brush is SO deep, there is 
absolutely no point even attempting to locate where it landed. There are 
probably hundreds of models scattered throughout the area.

These guys work in the oil industry, in the middle of mother nature, got 
lots of cabbage, and are enjoying themselves to the enth degree...

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