District X
Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah
Greg Stone
Vice President
gstone4@outlook.com
5345 Paseo Caliente
Yorba Linda CA 92887
(949) 413-0920
I am a bit late, but I want to congratulate Brad Osborne for winning the 2022 U.S. Scale Masters Association’s Championships that was held at the Arizona Model Aviators field in Mesa, Arizona. Brad started competing with the Scale Masters in August 2007 at the Sepulveda Basin flying site qualifier. Brad is a big part of the U.S. Scale Masters, attending as a contestant in several qualifiers and championships, along with working to bring in new contestants to the group.
Another type of competition is the collegiate design, build, and fly competitions that were put on by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Textron Aviation, and Raytheon Missiles & Defense to provide real-world aircraft design experience to college engineering students.
The pictures were taken by Dave Reynolds at the Tucson International Modelplex Park Association (TIMPA) field. There were 99 teams from 14 countries, roughly 870 students attended, and 203 flights took place during the three-day event. Many thanks to all of the volunteers and the TIMPA club for hosting these students and sponsors that are developing another group of career engineers.
Each year, the competition has missions and aircraft design parameters that each team is judged and scored on. This year, the objective was to design, build, and test an aircraft to execute electronic warfare missions. The missions included staging of the aircraft, surveillance, and jamming.
Some of the parameters were that all components of the airplane, payloads, and batteries must fit inside a shipping box with a maximum length and width of 62 inches and a maximum weight of 50 pounds.
Mission 1 had no payload and a 5-minute flight window for three laps through a set course and a successful landing. Mission 2 carried the electronics package and a 10-minute flight window. The the score was based on the weight carried and the number of laps flown. Mission 3 has a jamming antenna (that you can see in some pictures vertically on one wingtip) with a flight window of 5 minutes for three laps. The score was based on the antenna length and mission time. On each mission, the aircraft must have taken off within 60 feet of the start/finish line.
We have a lot of activities and events going on throughout the district. Enjoy everything you build and fly.
