Heat also makes material murbe
On sunday afternoon, the burgkunstadt plateau with its model airfield resembles a blazing oven with temperatures well over 30 degrees, where not only the people but also the machines sweat profusely. Like so many pilots, georg werner from knetzgau of the hassberge model sports group protects his gasoline-powered "pilatus PC 6" propeller plane with a towel in front of the blazing sun.
"The fuselage of my plane can heat up to 60 to 70 degrees on a hot day like this one. But the receiver inside can only withstand temperatures of up to 50 degrees", says the expert. 21 pilots with a total of 25 models have met in spite of the brutal heat to the schauflugtag of the glider group "kordigast" arrived.
Rather go to the open air bath
Many an empty seat remains on the spectator benches. The midsummer weather attracted more people to the open-air swimming pool than to the model airfield on this day. Those who have come experience model flying at a high level. A propeller plane with the banner "welcome" is flying to the funeral through the air, the pilot rudolf mager from weismain steers. Erik fischer from rothwind makes his helicopter whirl through the air in such a way that the spectators get dizzy just looking up at the sky. The 18-year-old from the "kordigast" gliding group shows aerobatics par excellence. His helicopter "goblin 700" bobs again and again from sab up and down in an inclined position, what is known in technical jargon as "tic toc calls. The landing maneuver, on the other hand, fails: fischer switches off the engine and wants to land his helicopter in gliding mode. The plane collapses and lands on the ground. "I had estimated the distance wrong. The winds are unpredictable today and in the heat the air doesn’t carry so much because of the lack of thermals", the aspiring young pilot explained the mishap.
Dierk schumann’s helicopter is not designed for such acrobatic flight maneuvers as demonstrated by erik fischer. The man from altenkunstadt lets his eleven-kilogram helicopter with electric motor perform turns that also occur in normal flight operations, or hover quietly over the ground. His model is a replica of the american military helicopter AH 1F kobra, which was used in the vietnam war to support ground troops. "With the exception of the fuselage, everything is a home-made design: from the landing gear to the on-board cannon and the mechanics. I constructed the cockpit with its two pilots using a homemade three-D printer", the pilot talks about his plane.
It is "raining candy
Impatiently waiting for the arrival of the candy bombers. When they then drop their cargo over the country, there is no stopping them. Chairman werner hahn comments expertly and confidently on the flying action. Dierk schumann points out a problem that owners of gasoline-powered models in particular will have to contend with on this bright day. "The cooler the air, the more oxygen I have and the more efficient the combustion is."
But there is a lack of cool air on this day. Rudolf mager from weismain also gets a taste of it. He leaves his 19-kilo, self-built high-wing "bellanca" fly over the plateau. "When flying uphill, the air is not as drafty as usual because of the hot air, after all, unlike a car, it has no radiator", explains the pilot from the "kordigast" gliding group.