Paul Fleming and Jim Lake at Sanderson Field
On September 11, 2016, Paul Fleming and Jim Lake (Lake Microsystems) tested a new airspeed-measuring system at Sanderson Field, Shelton, WA. Paul brought his beautifully crafted Seagull Models Lysander for some in-flight testing of the plane equipped with the new system. Air from a tube mounted in the Lysander's left wheel pant enabled a sensor to measure the airspeed and relay the data back to a hand-held receiver. Jim will be demonstrating the new system at the 2016 South Sound R/C Swap Meet on November 5. In order to test the system on a workbench, Jim developed a "wind generator" that can be aimed at an aircraft to evaluate the systems' capability and to determine the best installation practices in an R/C aircraft. The measuring systems' alarm-notification capability can be set to an airspeed above stall speed and will sound an audible alarm in the hand-held receiver if the speed drops below the set level. This should help prevent some nasty crashes resulting, for example, from inadequate speed when turning. It should also be lots of fun for those who want to see just how fast their aircraft can fly. According to Jim,
"...the sensor reports airspeed from 99mph down to 1mph and weighs just 1.7 ounces. Two receivers are available, one, shown in the photo, has a large digital display. The other reports airspeed with speech so the pilot never needs to take his eyes off the plane. It also announces your flight time since take-off. It can be carried in a pocket and used with earbuds or a speaker."
Paul and Jim also attempted to test Lake Microsystems' sound system—in flight—in another aircraft, but the air system for the retracts was not functioning correctly. Those who have previously attended the South Sound R/C Swap Meet will probably be familiar with the sound system demonstrated there.
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I hope you enjoy these images as much as I enjoyed capturing them.
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About the Images
The images were taken with a Canon Rebel T3i. I used Canon 60mm and 100mm macro lense for the images. All images received simple processing in Photoshop and were saved as low-resolution JPEG images that were optimized for the Web.